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What are the best techniques for maximizing the yield of mushrooms (PF Tek)?

For example...people speak of flushes, and speak of them as if most do not attempt to accumulate more flushes. When do the flushes finally stop, and why?

Also, the more spore solution you inocculate the jar with, then the faster it will colonize...but 'technically' should it also produce more mushrooms?

And one last ignorant question. It is concerning eating the cakes. First of all, what does that shit taste like? Also, how do you guage what type of trip you're going to get (or am I really stupid and you don't trip off of it)?

ok take your PF cakes (fully colonized)...go out and get some horse shit...and make a spawn casing with it... crumble ur cakes in it.......read more TEKs on how to boost your yield... and ur other mycelium eating question... i wouldnt do it, waste of a cake hehe... but go ahead if u want, ive neever done it before

--------------------Make Sure You Bring A Towel!!!
.....
..... You wanna get high?

all you need to do is moisten the vermiculite and roll the cake in it(and it will stick to the cake) ? i didnt know you could use only verm, i thought you needed some of the coco coir shit too, and i dont got any of that at the moment, but i have plenty of verm, i should case a couple cakes and see how good the difference is

*how do you dunk cakes between flushes? slide them back into the jars? what if you used casing, do you just discard that and use new for after the cold shock?

bluemeanie has said a number of times on these boards that millet is the most food-rich substrate cubies can get and when you think about it, grain (millet) has neither been digested (robbed) nor is low in nutes as cellulose is (straw), then by rights millet should punch above it's weight in BE over bulk. I've been happy with what it has done for me.

Now I haven't done bulk, but I doubt half a KG of dry manure will field 100 grams dry of shrooms in 3 flushes. It wouldn't have the carbs/protein of seeds (millet).

Think of what's needed chemical energy wise for a seed to germinate, there's a lot of food needed in the imbition/germination process and all in the absense of photosynthesis. Then think of what a bird burns off (they are warm blooded like cattle) but they have a much faster metabolism than heavy placentals and they (depending on species) eat their own weight in a day. Thus they need high powered food and in the plant kingdom the highest energy input matter are the seeds they make. This is why grains are the worlds staples.

per unit of substrate mass, grain will indeed yeild more because it is far more nutritious than bulk mixes.

grain is so nutritious that unless it is completely sterile, competitor organisims will take hold. bulk substrate is not as nutritious... that's what makes it so useful; it needn't be sterile.

bulk is good because a very large amount of substrate can be prepared quickly and easily. 10 gallons of bulk substrate can be produced in a couple hours, while 10 gallons of grain substrate (or even just the nutritous equivalent of 10 gallons of bulk) would take days, and would have to be inoculated under sterile conditions.

per unit of substrate mass, grain certainly does yeild more. per unit of time\effort, bulk yeilds a whole lot more, and it is easier to work with.

i cannot understand why anyone wouldn't go bulk, except if maybe colonization time was an issue (spawn running can add a week or two to the whole process).

arex7ttif you are having trouble wiht grain, check out 6T's WBS tek, its in the faq, its fuckin amazing, you cant go wrong with it, follow his instructions to the "T" as long as you have a pressure cooker and a glove box you can do grain(glove box is cheap and WORTHWHILE to make)once u get grain down, you will have more spawn then you know what to do wiht... a spore syringe lasts me about a year nowHow you say?easy!

i innoculate 2 WBS jars with spore solution, and when they are done,i put one in the fridge for long storage, and i colonize 10 WBS jars with 1 of the colonized jars via G2G transfer, once i use 9 of those jars, i take 1 and make another 10 via G2G, once i use 9 of them i take 1 and make another 10 via g2g, i do this one more time, then when im finally out of jars, i take the one from the fridge and start again!yay!

all this info was blessed upon me by 6tango, too bad hes not around anymore, he taught me alot...

if u would like any help wiht grains lemme kno...6t was nice enuff to help me, and i feel its my duty to pass it on (this goes for anyone else too, not just arex7tt.. i dont hang out on the general cult board much anymore, but u can always PM me..)

>>>i cannot understand why anyone wouldn't go bulk, except if maybe colonization time was an issue (spawn running can add a week or two to the whole process).

There's a number of reasons. No one's situation is the same as the next person. Here's a few examples.

* They live in an apartment with no access outside to cook dung/straw. (So no wonder the PF tek is so popular, but cased grains should be more so).

* Or the ^above applies but they have a spouse who refuses to allow them to cook dung/straw indoors. Be it oven bag method or stockpot on gas hobs.

* They're in a cold winter season where cooking dung/straw outside would prove difficult to keep a stock pot at a steady 70C for an hour in near freezing conditions. (Spring temps have only just started my way).

* They have limited space and would rather use what can punch the most per unit input.

* Their needs are modest, so scaled up production not necessary.

All up (in my case) I will go bulk on cubes for the learning curve to run pans. I have a culture on agar. I see bulk as a step, not the goal.